Since buying my house last year, all the pieces in my life fit so much better. José moving to Boston a year ago was one of my life's best twists -- a happy ending. We are often still surprised by how natural the transition felt.
Facing History has similarly felt like a puzzle piece solved, it's a high expectations job with relaxed non-profit culture and excellent benefits. There are always new projects and always new little nuances. Effective January in the new year, I was promoted to Assistant Director and I feel very blessed to have a job with a full week paid vacation at Christmas, many holidays and occassional days to work from home (especially in snowy weather).
And speaking of settling into new homes, José and I both wanted to adopt a dog ASAP all year, and we are so happy to have waited for the right weekend to find Lucy, who is the most adoring, cuddly little monster when she's on our laps, but is an absolute rebel, acting fiesty and fierce when she's out in the world.
Because of her fiesty-ness, we were lucky to find a fantastic dogwalker Stephanie who takes Lucy for twice a week playdates with another wildly-happy puppy. She also made Lucy this Gwen Stefani-would-approve dog sweater (and yes, Stephanie has an etsy store).
Here's a few updates since I last wrote:
Christmas was wonderful and relaxed - we cooked a delcious home-cooked meal of arepas, pork shoulder, butternut squash and blueberry pie for dessert on Christmas Day.
...the weekend beforehand we drove out to Cape Cod where we Lucy ran free on the beach with almost no one around. The weather was in the mid 50's, shockingly high for Winter.
Lucy went a little crazy at having the Chatham, Eastham and Brewster beaches to herself.
In late October, I took a week off of work to spend with my sister visiting from California and my cousin Dorota (who we had encountered last year in Losie, Poland!) who visited from the UK. The fall colors were high 'in bloom' and it was a really nice time for all of us together.
Even though it's not a dog-friendly walk, José and I find ourselves walking in the gorgeous Mt. Auburn Cemetery every season of the year to see how it's changed. The tail-end of autumn was definitely the prettiest and we happened to walk there at the best time -- just at dusk when leaves were still wet from rain but it had stopped raining.
(sigh)
Lucy is a handful of puppy, but the plus side is we are learning a lot of discipline ourselves in learning to teach her consistency and comfort (on walks, she is often acting as if she just heard a firecracker go off - antsy and on high-alert). Whenever she is super sleepy in our presence, I find myself taking pictures to remember the moment!
Even though it's not a dog-friendly walk, José and I find ourselves walking in the gorgeous Mt. Auburn Cemetery every season of the year to see how it's changed. The tail-end of autumn was definitely the prettiest and we happened to walk there at the best time -- just at dusk when leaves were still wet from rain but it had stopped raining.
(sigh)
Lucy is a handful of puppy, but the plus side is we are learning a lot of discipline ourselves in learning to teach her consistency and comfort (on walks, she is often acting as if she just heard a firecracker go off - antsy and on high-alert). Whenever she is super sleepy in our presence, I find myself taking pictures to remember the moment!